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September 22, 2005

Rocking Danica to sleep and I started to think about how the keys to getting media exposure are the same as winning over your customers. Here's a list of things that could be the guts of a Powerpoint presentation on either topic:

Make it easy to "buy"

Establish a friendly, authentic relationship

Become a trusted source of information, guidance, expertise

Help them out, even when it doesn't benefit you directly

Know as much as possible about who you're dealing with

The customer/media is always usually right (but honest and direct communication is essential).

You always have time for the customer/media

Customer service is the same as good media relations

Stay in touch after the "sale"

That's it for now, maybe I'll expand on these a bit more down the road.

September 01, 2005

From the Creating Passionate Users blog, comes this great comparison of "old-school marketing" and what they call "neo-marketing". Every marketing, PR, and sales person should print this out and stick it in their cubicle. These are not just buzzwords and trends, they are the new reality.

The larger, dominant brands in the bike industry that are still clinging to the old-school paradigm are at risk of slowly but surely losing market share. And do I even have to mention that a well-executed company blog can achieve everything in the neo-marketing column?

When you read through this, which brands come to mind? Is your company still "old-school"?

Is this the first ad buy from a bike industry manufacturer on a blog-related site? If it is, kudos go to Soma for leading the charge. This trend will continue as more of the industry realizes that blogs are reaching an ever-increasing number of their potential customers.

August 06, 2005

Looks like The Discovery Channel has found a creative way to leverage Lance's heroic status. They've produced three new animated videos that connect some of their own characters (like the Crocodile Hunter and those chopper guys) to the Discovery team.

The quirky little videos portray Lance and his teammates as a team of superheros with the slogan, "We Can Do Anything."

This is a smart viral marketing move for The Discovery Channel, as I'm sure these will spread like wildfire through the web. I like how they've waited long enough after the Tour media frenzy to help avoid Lance burnout and I think the public is ready to accept Lance into his new role as The Ambassador of Cycling.

August 03, 2005

Almost a year after the crisis, Kryptonite's PR Manager Donna Tocci has re-engaged the blogosphere. Being the responsible PR person she is, she is monitoring blogs for mention of her brand. In doing so recently she came across the Naked Conversations blog. They're writing a book about business blogging and their chapter titled, "Doing it Wrong" features many references to Kryptonite.

Tocci contacted them and several emails ensued. The result is a very illuminating post from Naked Conversations. I highly recommend looking through the dialogue in the comments...it's an amazing look at how a company deals directly with feedback (and it's not all good).

Interestingly enough, the same day I noticed the Naked Conversations post (I read that blog nearly every day), I received an email from Donna too. We've been emailing back and forth and I will post something about our conversation in the next day or so.

July 30, 2005

Inside Communications (publisher or VeloNews, VeloNews.com, Inside Tri, etc...) is looking for a tech-savvy "Interactive Brand Director." Whoever gets the job should get them blogging ASAP. They've got a ton of talent on their masthead and I think they could really extend their brand online by empowering their staff with blogs. Here's more from the job description:

July 29, 2005

"The top goals for the Specialized web site are to improve its
customer's brand experience and deliver those customers to Specialized
Dealers, and the company is intelligently utilizing web analytics to
further those initiatives."

Those are certainly fine goals, but I think Specialized should consider coming up with a blogging strategy. People want to become involved with brands and make them their own. They are not just passive receivers of information, waiting to be analyzed and "converted." A properly executed blog would give Specialized more ROI than any amount of tweaking to their website and it would give them an opportunity to engage their customers in a constructive dialogue. Isn't that the kind of experience customers deserve?

My next door neighbor trained religiously with her Team in Training crew and had a great time at her first triathlon. The result? Not only is she in great shape but she's fallen head over heels in love with cycling (and Lance Armstrong). This weekend I'm helping her decide on a new bike (something all carbon, for around $2,000).

The real irony is that these organizations are doing a much better job at getting Americans on bikes than the bike industry ever has. I think we should be thankful that these charityorganizations are doing so much marketing and recruiting for our sport. Dealers should stay abreast about charity rides in their area and plan their marketing, promotions and product selection around them.

This charity riding trend might fizzle out, but once we've hooked people on riding bikes, they'll be enthusiasts for life.

I hope all this fashion news means we'll finally start seeing more fashionable, yet functional bike clothing. In my opinion, if this sport is to really cross over into the lifestyle realm of surfing or skating, we've got to start making more stylish, comfortable, and affordable bike clothing. I think this company is really onto something and I hope more follow suit.